Today is Father’s Day in the UK and to mark the occasion, we want to celebrate some of the many incredible, resilient, adaptable and nurturing disabled fathers proving to society that people with disabilities can be hard-working, wonderful and loving parents too.
Below are 10 influential disabled fathers from the world of television, comedy, sport, music, business and activism who are proving they can be active parents despite their physical, sensory and cognitive impairments.
Read: 10 Influential Disabled Mothers Showcasing Their Abilities To Be Parents
Alex Brooker
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Alex Brooker is a 40-year-old television presenter, journalist and comedian. He was born with limb deformities, which resulted in him becoming a leg amputee and living with dexterity issues. Alex is best known for being a co-host on Channel 4’s comedy panel show The Last Leg but has since been in many other TV shows.
Alex got married to his wife Lynsey in 2014 and they have two children together. Although Alex is mostly private about his children, he did share this in a previous interview back in 2020:
“Before my children were born, I was worried about them being scared of my hands, as well as whether I’d actually be able to be a parent.
“When my eldest daughter, who is three and a half, noticed my hands for the first time and asked me what happened, I just said, “This is how I came out of my mummy’s tummy”.
“That was it. She didn’t even ask a follow-up question. I couldn’t believe it, after 20 years of worrying, the conversation was done and dusted.”
He added: “When I bathed both of my kids recently, and one noticed my leg off for the first time. Again, I simply said I was born that way and she didn’t ask for any further explanation.
“There’s a wonderful innocence to children. They’re not asking you because of any misconception about disabled people and or because they look down on them or think they’re weird. They’re just asking through sheer innocence.”
You can follow Alex Brooker on Instagram.
Adam Hills
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Adam Hills is an Australian stand-up comedian and TV presenter, best known for hosting the Channel 4 show The Last Leg. The 53-year-old was born without a right foot and uses a prosthesis but he doesn’t identify himself as disabled as he feels there’s nothing he can’t do – including parenting. Adam is also very sporty, playing physically disabled rugby league and Para standing tennis.
Adam got married to his wife Ali McGregor in 2009 and they have two daughters – Beatrice (14) and Maisie (10). The family live in Melbourne, Australia but Adam does travel frequently to the UK to film The Last Leg and other work commitments. Therefore, when he is home, Adam makes sure he spends every minute he can with his daughters. This can include simple things like having a takeaway and movie night and letting his youngest do makeovers on him.
In an article at The Father Hood, Adam said: “Having kids did change me. I think fatherhood makes you more confident in yourself. More grounded.
“As a father you need to be present. When my dad was away for work he’d be away for days and weeks at a time. But when he was back he always had all the time for you – we’d come back from school and sit together and watch cartoons. When I’m with my kids I always try not to do anything else.
“Fatherhood changed the way I work. It made me more focused. It made me not want to take every single gig. I’ll only do them now if I think they’re worth it. I’ll turn down corporate jobs, say because I want to be back home for bedtime.”
You can follow Adam Hills on Twitter and Instagram.
Richard Whitehead
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Richard Whitehead is a 47-year-old Paralympic sprinter and marathon runner from Nottingham. He was born without both his legs and has used prosthetics since he was a child.
In 2021, Richard launched The Richard Whitehead Foundation, which supports disabled people and their families access sport, education, employment and other services. It also educates other communities about disability.
Richard has two children – an 11-year-old daughter Zarah and a nine-year-old son Andrew John (AJ). Zarah is autistic so Richard, his partner Val and AJ have found ways to support Zarah in navigating the world and accommodating her sensory overloads.
The greatest challenge Richard faces as a disabled father is other people’s perceptions. Speaking in an interview ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, Richard said:
“My disability is very visible with having two prosthetics and wearing shorts a lot of the time. So still having to change people’s perceptions about disability is really important to inform people and not be passive with those questions.
“The older generation think you’ve been in the army when you’re an amputee and some of the younger generation – especially having two children – I see kids ask their parents questions about my prosthetics and unless they face these questions, then those children will never have them answered.
“For instance, sometimes when I go to school with my kids, young children will say, ‘I wonder what happened to that man over there?’, ‘he’s got robot legs’ or ‘look at those legs’.
“I feel it’s a responsibility for the parents to either inform the child that everybody is different or at least ask the question.”
Richard added: “I think if you turn that on its head – if it was a young person speaking about maybe somebody from a different race or religion and then said for instance, “mummy, look, there’s a black person”, how would that person of colour feel? Well, that’s the same as how a person with a disability feels, so these questions need to be addressed.”
You can follow Richard Whitehead on Twitter and Instagram.
Shaun Ryder
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Shaun Ryder is the lead singer in the bands Happy Mondays and Black Grape. He was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia in 2020. He has six children, with several of them also living with learning difficulties and behaviour disorders.
Speaking in a previous interview in 2022, Shaun explained a bit about his relationship with his children:
“My older ones are great. My daughter Jael is coming over to the UK soon to start filming something with me. A good thing about her is she’s got so much knowledge and is good with her teenage sisters.
“Again, it can be challenging having children with ADHD, but I know because I’ve been there, felt like that, done that and gone through that, the way that they can see things or take things.
“One of our daughters has a different way of looking at things and I can understand that way. It can be challenging, but that’s just life. We’ve got tutors for them and all sorts of other support. My wife does all the discipline though because I’d be pretty useless at that.”
You can follow Shaun Ryder on Twitter and Instagram.
Amit Patel
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Dr Amit Patel is a best-selling author, diversity, equity and inclusion consultant, motivational speaker, disability rights campaigner and charity Trustee. He is registered as severely sight impaired (blind) having lost his sight to keratoconus in 2013. Amit was matched to Kika, his first guide dog in 2015.
Amit has two children – a son called Abhi (7) and a daughter called Anoushka (4) -and despite his visual impairment, he has a very active role in their lives. This can include nappy changes, bath time and taking them to the playground.
The biggest challenge Amit has to face as a blind parent is other people’s attitudes. He has faced many discriminative, ableist and racist comments about him being a disabled father and a guide dog user.
Speaking to journalist Emma Higginbotham, Amit said: “I remember at the hospital when my son was born, a gentleman came over and said ‘I didn’t realise blind people could have kids’. Is this what people really think?”
On another occasion reported in The Sun, Amit was allegedly “bullied” by parents in front of his son for taking his guide dog into a children’s playground. There were no specific signs saying that guide dogs were exempt however it should be common knowledge that assistance dogs and guide dogs are usually allowed in these places and it was more the other parent’s reaction that was traumatising.
Amit also told iNews that a passenger on the train said to him “In my opinion, you’re a bit selfish for having a child.” He has also encountered some racist comments including “Have you moved here because you don’t have guide dogs in your country?” (despite the fact he was born in Croydon) and ‘You don’t see a lot of brown people with guides [dogs]’.
You can follow Amit Patel on Twitter and Instagram.
Ade Adepitan
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Ade Adepitan MBE is a former wheelchair basketball Paralympian, TV presenter, travel journalist and children’s author. His career spans over 20 years including winning four medals in the Paralympics and more recently presenting big sporting events, such as The Invictus Games, Channel 4’s coverage of the Paralympic Games and The IPC Athletics. He is also a presenter on BBC’s The Travel Show and has presented a variety of documentaries including Climate Change: Ade on the Frontline and Whites Only: Ade’s Extremist Adventure.
In 2018, Ade married Scottish singer Linda Harrison (who performs as Elle Exxe) and in January 2021 they gave birth to a baby boy called Bolla.
Appearing on the Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast, Ade speaks frankly about his experiences of being a parent in a wheelchair and his fear of being judged by other parents: “One of my biggest fears was always could I be a good father in all the ways that an able-bodied person would be a good father? The first time I went out with the ergo sling on my own with Bolla, I was really nervous about it. I was thinking. what if I fall out of my wheelchair, what if Bolla starts screaming and people start looking at me, thinking I’m not fit to look after a baby?
“I think the feat for a lot of disabled parents is that we’ll be judged by able-bodied parents as not being capable of looking after our children.”
Ade has also experienced people’s surprise that he is in fact a father. In one incident when his son was four months old, Bolla was wearing a teddy bear suit sitting in Ade’s lap and people thought he was genuinely carrying a teddy bear and not a real baby, assuming that disabled people can’t be parents.
Speaking to The Mirror, Ade said: “It was bonkers that people thought it was more realistic that I would be carrying a teddy bear on my lap.”
You can follow Ade Adepitan on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Dan White
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Dan White is a journalist, author and disability campaigner who lives with bipolar and mental health issues. He has a daughter Emily who has spina bifida, hydrocephalus, chiari malformation, scoliosis and autism.
Dan shares his personal struggles with mental health and helps break the taboo around men’s mental health. He also campaigns for better policy and disability equality, including the controversial reform of the benefits system and carers allowance.
Dan also shares both the highs and lows of caring for his teenage disabled daughter Emily. Back in 2020, Dan opened up about the challenges of being an unpaid carer and his fear for the future when he can no longer support her.
Writing a blog post for Scope, Dan said: “When you think of a physiotherapist, a counsellor, a practice nurse or GP, you know that responsibility comes with a rather weighty pay packet. That is correct, it is probably true of the social worker, speech therapist, legal eagle, behavioural expert, teacher etc. When all these jobs come to mind, they are separate entities from each other, jobs practised by individuals who switch off at a given hour and trudge homeward, a day done.
“Carers however take on and practice ALL the above job titles, daily, hourly. All these responsibilities we gladly enact because we love our families unconditionally, down to the atoms they are made of. We are trained in everyone, we have to be; the cost of not being in pain, tears, ambulances, intensive care and in many tragic cases, worse. We are a multitude of life-affirming jobs and people rolled into one shattered individual.
Dan is also the author of a children’s comic book series, which was inspired by his daughter Emily. The books he has created feature Brook, a confident girl who uses a wheelchair and wouldn’t change her circumstances. She is the kind of character that Dan wishes Emily had been exposed to as a child; her able-bodied friends and classmates too.
In her debut, Brook travels to the moon, tapping into the childhood dream of being in space that so many of us share.
The second book looks at the history and how some of the most pivotal disabled people are forgotten or not mentioned as much as they should be, and Dan said it was really important to him to explore how disabled people should be included.
The third book looks at how other children would feel if they became disabled, and Brook’s character shows Farook that he does not need to miss out on things in life because he is disabled.
You can follow Dan White on Twitter and Instagram.
Allen Parton
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Allen Parton is a Royal Navy veteran and founder of the charity Hounds For Heroes. Allen became disabled after a horrific accident in the Gulf War in 1991. He made it into the public eye after he met Endal the dog, who later became the most famous assistance dog in the world.
Allen spent five years in hospital. He lost the memory of his wife Sandra, his children Liam and Zoe, and he couldn’t read, write, walk, or talk. Over three decades later, Allen continues to be a wheelchair user and has some memory issues but thanks to the support of military charities, the unconditional love of his family and the incredible bond with Endal, Allen reclaimed a strong relationship with both his wife and children, re-creating old memories and making new ones.
Back in 2008, Sandra shared with the Daily Mail some of the challenges their son and daughter faced after Allen’s accident:
“The children found it even harder. Zoë had always liked sitting on her dad’s lap for a cuddle, but one day, when she jumped up, he actually pinched her to get her off. I was shocked. It was so nasty; so unlike him.
“This wasn’t the father they knew, the one who spent hours playing games with them, tickling them until they cried with laughter. This new father hated noise and would demand that the children leave the room so he could have peace and quiet.”
Sandra went on to explain how Endal the dog helped fixAllen’s relationship with his children:
“The children, who were then aged 12 and 13, adored Endal, and he provided a much-needed bridge between them and their father.
“Allen now has a wonderful relationship with the children, and there’s nothing he won’t do for them. He’s flown to Glasgow with Liam and taken the bus to rescue Zoë when her car broke down. It’s helped heal the emotional scars created during the years when Allen was so distanced by his depression and disability.”
In a previous interview in 2020, Allen mentioned the support his family received following his accident and what his children went on to achieve:
“My family had been very well looked after in the aftermath. My daughter was funded through education and is now a Play Therapist. My son was given a huge opportunity and he’s now a manager of Waitrose in Guilford.”
You can find out more about Allen Parton and his amazing work by visiting the Hounds For Heroes website.
Laurence Clark
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Laurence Clark is an award-winning screenwriter, playwriter, actor and comedian with cerebral palsy and he is a wheelchair user.
Laurence was selected for 4screenwriting 2021 and the BBC Writersroom Writers’ Access Group. In 2022, his pilot comedy show Perfect – an irreverent comedy following three young wheelchair users on their quest for jobs and love – was broadcast on the channel Dave.
In 2018, Laurence performed his stand-up show An Irresponsible Father’s Guide to Parenting, in which he reflected on his life as a parent with cerebral palsy… and dealing with society’s negative attitudes in the funniest way possible.
Laurence is married to his wife Adele and they have two children – 19-year-old Tom and 13-year-old Jamie.
In 2011, when the couple were having their second son, Jamie, they agreed to be filmed for a programme on BBC One called We Won’t Drop the Baby, a fly-on-the-wall documentary that shows the world that disabled people can be great parents.
They hoped that appearing on the TV programme would change people’s perceptions of disabled parents, but sadly they were wrong.
Writing in the Huffington Post in 2018, Laurence said: “Recently the programme was uploaded to YouTube and we suddenly became clickbait, alongside celebrity plastic surgery disasters and those quizzes to find out which Disney princess you are. This meant complete strangers would look into our family home and share their considered, well-informed judgements on our parenting skills.
“Like most people, I’d normally deal with this kind of crap the same way I’d treat Daily Mail headlines and PPI calls. But comments like this really got to me: ‘Their wish to have another baby was probably bigger than their common sense because having kids in their position is just irresponsible’.”
Other comments they received included, “How did they even make the baby when he’s in a wheelchair and can’t hold anything properly?” and “Their son’s still carrying the cerebral palsy genes and his kid could be born with it. Genetically that child is screwed.”
You can follow Laurence Clark on Twitter and Instagram.
Angus Drummond
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Angus Drummond is a disability entrepreneur and CEO and founder of the company Limitless Travel, which organises holidays and tours for people with disabilities and the elderly.
At the age of 22, Angus was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy and has gone on to be a wheelchair user. Following his diagnosis, he wanted to make the most of his abilities and set off travelling the world. Throughout his travels, he noticed his physical strength declining and it occurred to him that there were not many services of support for disabled travellers. Therefore, this inspired him to create Limitless Travel.
Angus and his wife Lucy have two children – Alfie, who is six, and Arlo, who is almost three. Despite Angus’ disability, the family continue to travel the world, with the most recent trip to Costa Rica.
Speaking to The Muscle Help Foundation about being a disabled father, Angus said:
“It’s difficult to remember what life was like before being a parent. Being a parent is the biggest fundamental change I think that anybody can go through. I can’t speak for every disabled person because I don’t know what everybody’s experience is like.
“For me, losing my mobility was one thing in a challenge however that change in life of being a parent puts on you is unfathomable really and it’s a huge fundamental change and I think something that a lot of people underestimate and it’s hugely difficult to manage it.
“However, it is one of the most rewarding, probably the most rewarding, and amazing things that you could ever have. The life and experience you have with your children, no matter how bad your day is, how sad you’re feeling, how troublesome you’re feeling, when you come home and you see your children and they smile at you and give you a hug and give you a kiss, you just put everything to one side.
“It’s amazing and my children give me a huge amount of strength and really drive me forward for what I’m doing. The only success I want in life is for my children to think of me in the best possible way and to respect me for who I am.”
You can follow Angus Drummond on Instagram.
Support for disabled parents
If you are a disabled parent or prospective parents looking for practical and/or emotional support, there are many organisations you can contact and communities you can join:
- Enabled2Parent
- Disabled Parents
- Family Rights Group
Disability, Pregnancy and Parenthood - DisALEd Parents Forum
If you know any other disabled parenting groups or organisations, please share them in the comments box or by contacting us.
Are you a disabled father and can relate to the highs and lows of looking after your children while living with additional needs? Share your stories in the comments box, on social media or contact us to tell your personal story.
